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Atlanta campaign

(Encyclopedia)Atlanta campaign, May–Sept., 1864, of the U.S. Civil War. In the spring of 1864, Gen. W. T. Sherman concentrated the Union armies of G. H. Thomas, J. B. McPherson, and J. M. Schofield around Chattan...

Plath, Sylvia

(Encyclopedia)Plath, Sylvia, 1932–63, American poet, b. Boston. Educated at Smith College and Cambridge, Plath published poems even as a child and won many academic and literary awards. Her first volume of poetry...

Tristram and Isolde

(Encyclopedia)Tristram and Isolde trĭsˈtrəm, ĭsōlˈdə, ĭzōlˈ– [key], medieval romance. The earliest extant version (incomplete) was written (c.1185) by Thomas of Britain in Anglo-Norman French verse. Abo...

Theresa, Saint (Theresa of Ávila)

(Encyclopedia)Theresa or Teresa, Saint (Theresa of Ávila) both: tĭrēˈsə, –zə [key], 1515–82, Spanish Carmelite nun, Doctor of the Church, one of the principal saints of the Roman Catholic Church, one of t...

Rilke, Rainer Maria

(Encyclopedia)Rilke, Rainer Maria rīˈnər märēˈä rĭlˈkə [key], 1875–1926, German poet, b. Prague, the greatest lyric poet of modern Germany. Rilke's first book of poetry, Leben und Lieder [life and s...

Chautauqua movement

(Encyclopedia)Chautauqua movement, development in adult education somewhat similar to the lyceum movement. It derived from an institution at Chautauqua, N.Y. There, in 1873, John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller propo...

Hurston, Zora Neale

(Encyclopedia)Hurston, Zora Neale, 1891?–60, African-American writer, b. Notasulga, Ala. She grew up in the pleasant all-black town of Eatonville, Fla., and graduated from Barnard College, where she studied with ...

Hampton, Wade, Confederate general

(Encyclopedia)Hampton, Wade, 1818–1902, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Charleston, S.C.; grandson of Wade Hampton (c.1752–1835). Hampton, a wealthy planter, served (1852–61) in the South Ca...

Gluck, Christoph Willibald von

(Encyclopedia)Gluck, Christoph Willibald von krĭsˈtôf vĭlˈēbält fən glo͝ok [key], 1714–87, German-born operatic composer. Gluck revolutionized opera by establishing lyrical tragedy as a unified vital art...

Andersen, Hans Christian

(Encyclopedia)Andersen, Hans Christian, 1805–75, Danish poet, novelist, and writer of fairy tales. Born to an illiterate washerwoman and reared in poverty, he left Odense at 14 for Copenhagen, where he lived with...